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October 5, 2011

Discussion Minutes for October 5th,2011

I. Roll Call

Blake

Elijah

Brad

II. Approval of Minutes

III. Approval of Agenda

IV. Guest Speaker

· BradBaca-VP for Finance & Administration: Budget update: Talk a bit about statewidebudget picture impact on Western State College of Colorado. Differences betweenpublic and private education, the cost to attend a private school $100,000 peryear per student, room and board is $52,000. They have alumni and endowmentsthat help pay for future students. Residents pay $4,000/year. Average costs toeducate one student for one year is about $16,000/year. How does Western StateCollege of Colorado get the extra funding? Public institutes get money from thestate for the gap in costs, private schools get money from alumni. Increasingpressure for costs at the state level, which squeezes out higher education. Oursituation is unique because we have a lot of constraints. It is creating a jamwith what we can do. Taxes go to K-12 and corrections, medicare and humanservices, higher education gets 9% of general fund budget, when historicallyschools got 20%. Hickenlooper tried to fix state budget, which came with a lotof cuts. Revenues are not recovering as fast as they should be coming. Estimatea 500 million dollar structural deficit. Current appropriation is at 500million dollars for operating budgets. 2009-10 budget has been reduced by 26%,Westerns funding mirrors the statewide cuts, just over 24%, or roughly 3million dollars in budget reductions. If state continues to reduce the costthey subsidize education, then we need to make up the shortfall through tuitionincreases. Many instituions have taken advantage of this opportunity. We arethe third lowest for tuition costs in the state. When you look at what otherinstituions did the average increase by student was over $650, non-residentaverage $688, 400$ at Western State College of Colorado and $640 for out ofstate. There has been strong commitment into need based aid and financial aid. Nextfiscal year, the budget mark is being reconsidered now, and proposals to reducecosts are on the table. The state has tried not to touch financial aid, whichis need-based, 100million across the state in financial aid, and proposed tocut that by 30 million, consider how we will backfill this money. This willnecessitate discussions about tuition and what to do with the budget, whichwill be discussed in April and May. Try to mitigate against these cuts. Thingsthat are being to discussed, are proposition 103, which proposed to increaseincome tax rates temporarily, 4.6%-5%, this should generate 3 billion dollarsover the next five years and will all go toward public education. Board of Trustees support this measure.Elevate awareness of higher education in the state of Colorado, which isdetrimental to economic and civil well-being. Better transparency of whatpublic education does among the state. Capital development committee coming tocampus next Tuesday, some at which they have supported and some the studentshave supported. Trying to get more. Higher education supports 98 million jobs, contributes4.25 million in wages and salaries drive innovation, creates jobs, and does alot that propels society.

o Whatkind of tuition increase should we be expecting?

§ About the same as this year about $500.Created a new budget model to see how to balance these costs

o Enrollmentis a big issue here, how does tuition effect that?

§ Enrollment increases would help costsquite a bit. Western State College of Colorado has capacity to grow. The morestudents, the more revenue. A link between enrollment and tuition, yes.

§ 75% of financial aid goes to need-base,and formula helps decide who is eligable. 30 million will be a substantial cutfor everyone to absorb.

§ Would more capital investments be goodalong with increasing tuition? Some perception of what you pay is what you get.Looked at financial aid process to see what we can do to get more studentshere, different dependant on type of student. Continuely refine instatestudents don’t come here because costs are cheap, and opposite forout-of-state.

§ Look at tution to see what revenue hasbeen generate, proportion of what is used. Not a very complicated or logicalapproach, and becomes a contentious issue.

V. Action Items

VI. Discussion Items

· WildlifeSociety Bill-Any questions

o Howare you going to bring this back to the students? Attending workshops makingconnections with professionals, bring it back to clubs for more advancedmethods. Access to all ppt at conference, can bring back to professors.

§ Would you be willing to present to thestudents what you presented to the students?

· Wildlifesociety does a lot to get students involved.

§ Is this the only conference that theyare offering?

· Usuallya Colorado State conference, but the big one is the national conference.

§ Is it crucial for all four to go?

· Wellthree are presenting on research so it is important for at least the 3 to go. Thefourth person competes in a competition. Develop a culture and connection tofigure out how to do more on campus.

· Tribeta, and wildlife society both biology clubs, at lease 40 people signed up and15-20 people attend meetings.

· Whathave you done as a club?

o Resumeworkshop for biologists, liason comes in and helps with resume, teach aprogram, and a taxidermy workshop, hunter safety workshop, biology bonanza-teachingchildren about biology, volunteer oppurtunuties with many importantorganizations.

· Whatfundraising have you done?

o Coffeesales, $15-$20 a week. How did you get an invite?

§ All members of honors society can go?

o Didyou go last year?

§ That was the first one

o Howbeneficial was the conference in Utah?

§ I would go if it was in Colorado, andpresent the research.

§ Last year it intice more students tojoin club and come to this conference and network with other biologists.

o If not allocated full amount how willyou fund the trip

§ Out of pocket, and fundraising. Throughworking or loans this money will be found. When will you know about your grant?

§ Did not get the funding.

§ One more grant to apply to by the 11thof October.

o Cometo a budget meeting and vote on it next week. Email you details next week.

· AdventureFilm Festival Bill-Sponser, Adam

o Whatwere you going to charge community members?

§ Minimal fee, like $1. Goal is to packthe theatre.

§ Pursueing WRAP, PC and Studentgovernment

o How would ticket give-away works?

§ We would do a raffle by discipline, ineach department.

o Haveyou approached WP for money?

§ We are trying to give this back to thecommunity as well. Want to take in as many companies willing, to give freeadvertising since they provide a lot of sponserships. There are some classesthat have to get sponsorships, so we are going to Smith and some largernon-local businesses.

o Howmany staff members will there be?

§ 5, different headlining sponsor eachnight, 5 different tshirts and hats all nights, these are full-retailestimates.

o Withall other sponsors, is that for prizes and not for financial support?

§ Yes, they are giving us deals on the costof the videos, but rare to give money. We’re working with WRAP, even though wemissed the deadline since it is a positive program for students and campus. Themovie theatre has more draw for students than the ballroom. We have permissionto use theatre those nights.

§ What is the capacity?

· 200

§ No student organizations have been ableto run a student event, it would be fun for a students to have something thatis their own in the theatre, and to sample it for free.

§ We expect it to sell out every time

§ Chase: Is this just the amount you areasking from us?

· PCyou can only ask for $300, and 50 posters. Student government just under $2000,WRAP $200.

§ Erika: Real Rock is so expensivebecause it is near the release date.

· RealRock has a good history here. Selling out would be 600 students, and the buzzwould be good. Hopefully full attendance would get the event to grow in thefuture. Before thanksgiving and finals, if we had it later, costs would beless, but it is more exciting to hold event during the season. This is the onlyfilm charging viewing rights, where four are being donated, which is great!

§ Travis: Conflicting event on samenight?

· WRAPstill have events planned on Friday, which is a dance thing, and they couldbounce between events. Speeddating too. Help lift up students after speed dating.

· HonorsBill-Walker Sponsor: Christopher Philips: The 6 Questions of Socrates, honorswould like a campus-wide lecture hosting this author, around the issues raisedin Philips’ work. This will better aid the community in fostering intellectual growth.

o Honorsis trying to get guest speaker to promote his ideas and honors as anorganizations, this is an integral part to get incoming students. Honors program is what Western StateCollege of Colorado uses to to attract good students. Secured 5 dept. donations.$500 from SGA, cheapest cost in a while, secured well over ½. Support honors asan outreaching mechanism. Staff it ourselves, looks good for sga, good forhonors, good for community.

o Sarah:If there were more community members there then students we would needjustification a supplement.

§ We will follow through on thisquestion. Depends on funding, whether or not conference will cost.

o Nick:When?

§ Christopher Philips won’t give a datewithout having funding, which is normal. We have to get funding, before we getdates.

o Nick:In what ways can SGA capstone the event and help sponsor the event?

§ What I mean by ‘capstone’ is thatPhilips would be the cap to the program that is already in existence. SGA alongwith other sponsors will get credit as a sponsor. This is a way to spend alittle money that will go a long way. A good recruiting tool for the honorsdepartment and ultimately the college.

o Kayla:During convocation time? More students will come if it is in the evening.

§ There may be restrictions with thefunding, so dependant on what they say will go.

o Shana:We did not allocate the whole amount from convocations. We allocated you all$300.

VII. Advisor Report

· Homecomingwas fabulous, alumni loved it! I will be on vacation next week, and next weekis mid-fall break, be careful please.

VIII. Senator Reports

· Erika:Tomorrow night Native American student council is doing dinner and movie, at6:30pm called “Skins”.

· Nicole:Hiring a new librarian, looking for volunteers to look over interviews andcandidates.

· Shayna:We did not allocate full $1500 to art department. We gave the class nothing. Zoomba$100, Honors $300.

· Walker:Tomorrow in CB they are talking about sustainability and business. Ski advisor from Aspen resort and NewBelgium $10 if you buy in advance resourceefficiency.org at old opera house.

IX. Committee Reports

· HomecomingDebrief-Thank you all it turned out great and got a lot of compliments. We wantto do homecoming checklists to get done next week. Send checklists via email.

· Specialthanks to bowl committee, through a great tail-gate party. Decorations werenice!

X. Advisory Reports

· Nick:Going through the budget at the city. Nov. 1st is the date of the election,email ballots. Register to vote at the city, or online gunny.dems.org with aColorado DL. Skate rink is opening this weekend, freshman ditches are off. Newinformational kiosks at Hartmen’s. Friday night is the HS home football game,they have been having a great season.

· Haleigh:Sign up for office hours. Take a look at new name-change forum, there will onlybe four. Times are listed and we have the rooms 30 minutes before the meeting.Gary should be in attendance. North Ballrom on October 19th. Southballroom the following one. Meeting structure, any input?

o Weshould go through a full bill before making a decision.

§ Can’t we just always have two weeks todiscuss a bill rather than allocating certain meetings to certain tasks. It isnice to have two weeks to discuss a bill.

o Shouldwe vote on two bills next week?

§ I thought that was the point. Thesenator should have a small understanding of bill to answer preliminaryquestions people may have. Everything should be presented on discussion andvoted on action. Next week there shouldn’t be any bills presented, only a vote.

o Notgiving senators 2 full weeks.

o Ithought they presented on action and discussed and have another week to speakwith constituents.

o Whatif we have them come in present, then don’t come back discuss, third week theyvote.

o Wouldwe need to come back and discuss with SGA?

§ I agree

o Nopoint of second week because bill writers wont be able to ask questions

o Presenton discussion week, and vote on action week. Every other week would be budget,and presenters would come in both weeks.

o Whenwe only had a week, we are just making a judgment call because we didn’t havetime to speak with constituents.

§ If there are more questions then youalways have the answer to say you are not ready to vote, and table the bill.

§ We could always table more complicatedbills, so senators know when bills can be brought in.

§ Whenever we get the bill then maybeemail contacts would be nice so we can get short questions answered quickly.

· Wehave the contact sheet, and sometimes email can be unreliable

§ We shouldn’t need more than a week forthese three bills we have.

o Presentbill on discussion week’s. Vote on action weeks.

o NOBILLS NEXT WEEK, unless it is a special case, guest speakers can always showup…

· Grace:Bridging the gap health this weekend, free presentation at 4:30pm-6p. This isthe Patch Adams that the movie was based off. Giving a college wide tour, willbe coming this year and next year. 9a-1p for a workshop, email Grace to get onthe list since its limited space. Sex positive free pizza before next 5-7p Wednesday’smeeting in LEED office.

· Meg:October 20th a lot of things going on, I will email the list

· Blake:Football not home, XC off

· Travis:Started every thing this week, going well, MTWTH nights.

· Hayden:Cycling in GJ, Baseball Denver, Mens Rugby at Regis

· PC:75 people at concert on Saturday, homecoming weekend.

· Aurora:Monday at 7pm sociology club is putting on a movie to watch “A Bugs Life”. Rentersrights advocacy group, if a formal group in Gunnison then you can consult withthe group about any rental disputes, currently they are educating themselves onthe rights of tenants, have a FB page.

· Noah:This weekend there is intermediate MTN biking trip

· Maddy:Implementing larger outdoor recycling, a new whole unit like the one nearTaylor. Paint them blue, with students, with a general Colorado theme withrecycling guidelines.

XI. Special Topics

XII. Remarks for the Good of the Order

· Aurora“Thank You” Card

· Writedown office hours

· 13thank you cards to sign in SGA office.

· SGAPhotograph

· Attachemails to bills that helps us contact presenters.

· Doinga Halloween event, pumpkin carving contest between offices in College Centerpromote school spirit and festivity.